Carriers for the purpose of retaining an accessory so as to be carried on a person who does not want to carry the accessory by hand or in a pocket are known and available commercially, particularly in the law enforcement, shooting sports, and personal protection industries. Such carriers can be used whenever it is desirable to carry any accessory on one's person, typically attached or clipped to a belt. Such accessories may include, without limitation, a spare firearm magazine, a flashlight, knife, multitool, tape measure, or tool of any kind.
A known problem, however, with such accessory carriers is that the accessory often does not fit perfectly, or even satisfactorily, in the carrier and may fall out or risk falling out and becoming lost or be so loose as to become a distraction to the user. However, even if the problem is not that extreme, or even if the carrier is made and sold to fit a specialized accessory, users each have personal preferences and comfort levels with the accessories they carry on their person.
One known problem encountered is that accessories manufactured by different manufacturers, although similar, often have small differences in size and/or shape which adversely affect the fit of that accessory in a carrier. These small differences frequently make it very difficult for a manufacturer to produce a single carrier suitable for use with all such products. By way of non-limiting example, in the law enforcement, shooting sport, and personal protection industries, manufacturers of accessory carriers where the accessory is a flashlight, it is known that tactical flashlights may be similarly sized but vary slightly in diameter and/or shape. In the case of a spare handgun magazine, even for a particular chosen caliber, many small variations exist in size and shape of those magazines between the various handgun manufacturers and after-market accessory providers. The carrier manufacturer must provide specific carriers by caliber but also by manufacturer. The alternative is to provide a single design and run the risk of dissatisfied customers due to ill-fitting carriers. A need, therefore, exists for a device which is adjustable to account for different types, manufacturers, and sizes of accessories.
One known approach at solving this problem is to provide a carrier which is capable of constricting, or squeezing, the sides of the accessory. One problem with this approach is that a goal of accessory carrier designs is to be as lightweight and low profile as possible. This often results in a carrier which has a thin, shallow shell such that when the accessory is actually inserted, the constricting force is actually applied only to a small area of the accessory body. Moreover, the side walls of accessories are often tapered, thereby defeating the constriction effort. A need, therefore exists for a design which does not rely on constricting the sides of the accessory.
There are at least two primary factors that contribute to an accessory carrier design, retention and drag. Retention relates to the amount of force applied by the carrier upon the accessory in order to retain the accessory securely in the carrier, taking into account such factors as positioning of the carrier on the person of the user and the level of physical activity of the user.
Drag, in contrast, relates to the amount of effort/force which must be exerted by the user in order to insert and remove the accessory from the carrier. The optimal amount of drag has been found to be, in many cases, a function of personal preference.
The side constriction solution described above commonly must make trade-offs between retention and drag. If, as described, the carrier is designed to be low profile such that only a short length of the accessory is actually constricted, drag may be satisfactory but at the expense of retention. Conversely, designing a carrier which constricts a longer length of the accessory may satisfy the user's retention requirements but a the expense of drag. Such a construction commonly results in a situation where the amount of effort required to insert and then remove that length of accessory is often unacceptable to the user. A need, therefore, also exists for an accessory carrier design which satisfies both the retention and drag requirements of the user.
Other problems encountered with accessory carrier designs include the fact that wear from use and particularly resulting from repeated insertion and removal of the accessory from the carrier causes the carrier to wear and loosen over time. This can be a problem for carriers which are even specifically designed and sold for use with a specific accessory.
Changes in environmental conditions may also cause the accessory to become too tight or loose in the carrier on any given day. A need exists for a carrier that is capable of adjustment to account for such wear and environmental changes.